Provincial fire services lack guidelines

It is unclear what services are provided by P.E.I. fire departments from community to community, says a new report on fire services.

'In some cases there might be gaps that aren't being met in terms of service.'- John Dewey, P.E.I. Federation of Municipalities

The report was commissioned last year by the P.E.I. Fire Services Advisory Committee.

One of the concerns is there is no provincial body governing fire services, which is why they vary from municipality to municipality. The P.E.I. Firefighters' Association would like to see more standardization.

"The general public are not really aware of what their fire department is capable of, or the day to day operations of their fire departments," said Tim Jenkins, chair of the advisory committee and past-president of the P.E.I. Firefighters' Association.

"It'd be nice to have a little bit more equal playing field across the Island."

Jenkins said the committee needs to meet with key stakeholders to do more research and help come up with a solution.

The report also shows some municipalities don't have a written agreement with their contracted fire departments. No written contract means there's no clear outline of what fire departments are responsible for.

"There are a number of reasons why it's important to have agreements and have procedures and so on in place and understand the services that are to be provided and how they're to be provided," said John Dewey, executive director of the P.E.I. Federation of Municipalities.

"In some cases there might be gaps that aren't being met in terms of service."

Dewey said not all municipalities need the same services, but regulation is needed.